Nut cracking apparatus



.' INVENTOR. J. G. BERNEIKE ATTORNE 5 sheets sheet 1 Filed Oct; 12, 1937 J G BERNEIKE NUT CRACKING APPARATUS Oct. .10 1939 J. G. BERNEIKE NUT CRACKING APPARATUS Oct. 10, 1939.

F'IBJE- Filed Oct. 12, 1937 F I E- 9- FIEJ'Z W film m,

93 I 1\-' W5 NTOR. J. G BERNEIKE A TTOR E Y Patented Oct. 10, 1939 UNITED STATES FATENT OFFiCE 6 Claims.

This invention relates to nut cracking machines.

The general object of the invention is to provide an improved apparatus for cracking the shells of nuts such as walnuts, hazel nuts and others which are of general spherical shape.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide an improved nut cracking machine including novel cracking members so constructed and operated as to break the shells and cause either the shells to fall free from the meat or to leave the shells so that they may be easily pulled from the meats without mashing the meats or disturbing the skin thereon.

Another object of the invention is to provide novel cracking jaws for use in a nut cracking machine.

A iurther object of the invention is to provide a novel means for feeding nuts to the cracking element of a cracking machine.

Other objects and the advantages of my invention will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

5 Fig. 1 is a top plan View of a nut cracking machine embodying the features of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the machine;

Fig. 3 is a front end view of the machine;

Fig. 4 is a section taken on line 4-4 Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a section taken on line 6-6 Fig. 1;

Fig. '7 is a section taken on line 1-1 Fig. 6 on a reduced scale;

Fig. 8 is a section taken on line 8-8 Fig. 2 on 5 a larger scale;

Fig. 9 is a section taken on line 9-9 Fig. 2 on a larger scale;

Fig. 10 is a top plan view of the lower agitator;

Fig. 11 is an end view of the lower agitator;

Fig. 12 is a top plan View of the upper agitator;

Fig. 13 is a fragmentary end View of the feed roll;

Fig. 14 is a fragmentary sectional detail of the cracking jaw;

Fig. 15 is a top plan View of the cracking jaw;

Fig. 16 is a front view of the cracking jaw;

Fig. 17 is a section taken on line l'l-l'l Fig.

Fig. 18 is a rear View of the cracking plate;

Fig. 19 is a fragmentary top plan view of the upper part of the stationary cracking jaw;

Fig. 20 is a front elevation of the upper part of the stationary cracking jaw;

Fig. 21 is a perspective of the sifter;

Fig. 22 is a front elevation of a cracking apparatus embodying a plurality of units operated by an electric motor;

Fig. 23 is a section on line 23-23 Fig. 2; and

Fig. 24 is a section on line 24-24 Fig. l. 5

Referring to the drawings by reference characters I have shown my invention as embodied in a nut cracking machine which is indicated generally at Iii. As shown the apparatus includes a frame H which includes legs I2, upper 10 and lower longitudinally extending side members l3 and upper and lower and intermediate transversely extending end members |4.

As shown the apparatus includes a fixed cracking plate or jaw l5 which is secured to a plate [5a 15 mounted on certain of the transverse members Hi. This fixed member plate l5 includes an upper part I51) and a lower part I50. The upper and lower parts 15b and IE0 have aligned grooves l6 therein. As shown the grooves |6 in the upper part are uniform while the grooves in the lower part decrease in width from the top H to an intermediate portion I8 whence they flare in width as at Hi. The portion defining the groove in the lower part I50 is preferably providedwith more or less regularly arrangedpyram- 2 idal projections 28. The grooves 16 not only decrease in width downwardly but also decrease in depth towards the intermediate portion whence they increase in both width and depth towards the lower end. 30

The movable cracking member is indicated at 2| and is mounted on the upper end of a lever 22 which is pivoted as at 23 on a plate 2311 held in place by screws 23b which are arranged in slots 230 so that the plate 231]. may be adjusted 36 to vary the opening of the jaws and the construction is such that when the lever 22 is rocked the jaw 2| moves towards the jaw l5 until the two assume a cracking position.

A shaft 24 is mounted adjacent the movable 40 jaw 2| and is adapted to be rotated in any suitable manner as for. instance by means of a handle 25 on a fly wheel 26.

Mounted on the shaft 24 I show a cam member 2'1 which as shown contacts a rib 21 on the mov- 45 able body 2| and when the shaft 24 rotates the cam 2'! moves the movable jaw 2| towards the fixed jaw It. A spring 28 has one end secured as at 29 to the movable jaw and the other end is secured as at 313 to the frame 50 The cam 21 has a portion 27a which is so shaped that the movable jaw will assume the open position shown in Fig. 6 for an interval of time whereupon rotation of the shaft will cause the portion 21b of the cam to move the movable jaw towards the fixed jaw after a nut has been deposited between the jaws as will be hereinafter described. After the jaw has assumed the partially closed position the portion 210 on the cam engages the jaw 2| thus allowing the spring 28 to move the movable jaw slightly away from the fixed jaw and thus allow the nut to drop a very short distance whereupon further rotation of the cam causes the portion 21d thereon to complete the cracking action. Later the jaws open whereupon the cracked nut and shell and meats are dropped and another nut fed to position.

I lay particular emphasis on the fact that after the jaws are opened slightly and the nut has dropped and settled to position there is a slight opening of the jaws. This allows the nut to be firmly seated and causes the pyramidal protuberances to better engage the nut so that the nut is engaged at a number of points whereby when the crushing action takes place there is no upward movement of the nut and consequently the skin on the nut meat is not torn so that the keeping quality is unimpaired. With this arrangement the length of the cracking jaws can be made quite short so that efficiency in operation and saving of expense of manufacture is secured.

The pivot point 23, it will be noted, is disposed in the rear of the face of the removable plate and not in any plane of intersection of the axis of the jaws. This results in that the opening and closing of the plate gives a better cracking operation and provides a wide clearance after the nut is cracked.

Disposed above and slightly in the rear of the shaft 24 I show a shaft 40 on which a feed roller 4| rotates. This feed roller includes an elongated member having a plurality of longitudinally extending grooves 42 therein. In the drawings I show these grooves as six in number although this may be varied according to the working conditions. The grooves 42 form a compound curve with the leading portion of longer radius than that of the trailing portion as shownby the radii A and B in Fig. 13. This causes a better engagement of the nut. A cover member 42a is disposed over the feed roll and from this cover member a canvas flap 42b depends to prevent incorrect nut feeding. The feed roll has spaced disks 42c thereon to confine the advancing nuts to their proper grooves.

The feed roll is timed for intermittent motion to discharge a nut and this motion is secured by means of a pawl 43 which engages a ratchet 44 mounted to rotate with feed roll 4 I. The pawl is normally held against the ratchet 44 by a spring 45 and this pawl is pivoted on a shaft 46 which in turn is mounted on an arm 41 which turns; about a shaft 48. The arm 41 includes a flange 49 which engages a cam 50. The cam 59 is mounted on the shaft 24 and includes a surface 5| which is an idle surface. The cam also includes a surface 52 which serves to lower the pawl 43 and includes an advancing portion 53, a dwell portion 54 and a lowering portion 55.

The construction is such that every time the shaft rotates it will first rotate the feed roller 4| to the correct angular position whereupon after the feed roller has remained held in this position by the pawl 43 the pawl will be lowered so that the operation can be repeated. This arrangement will prevent movement of the feed roll while a nut is being fed thereto.

In order to feed the nuts to be cracked in the proper sequence and in single file to the feed device I provide a chute comprising a series of adjacent, inclined channel forming members 60 which comprise horizontal strips 6! having their upper surfaces arranged to provide grooves 62. The members 60 are supported at their lower end on cross member 63 on the frame and adjacent their upper ends on cross member 64 with the cross member 64 higher than the cross member 63 so that the channel members slope downwardly toward the feed roll 4| Between each of the channel forming members I provide a slot 65 which serves to sift dirt and foreign matter and also provides space for agitators 66. These agitators comprise elongated members having enlarged heads 66 and which are mounted on bars 61 (see Fig. 10) which are in turn mounted on side members 68. Each of the side members is provided with a front lever 69 and a rear lever 76. These levers are pivoted to the side members 68 and are each provided with apertures ll through which fastening members 12 extend. The fastening members also extend through bars 13 mounted on a lever 15 pivoted as at 16 on brackets 11 mounted on the frame.

The construction is such that by shifting the members 69 and 10 the angular disposition of the agitators 66 relative to the channel forming member 60 may be adjusted so that the lift and the tilt of the agitators may be altered. The levers 75 are connected by an end member 18 which is connected to one end of a spring 19, the other end of the spring being connected to the frame so that the spring end of the lever is normally pulled downwardly.

The ends of the levers 15 remote from the spring 19 engage cams keyed to the shaft 24 and these cams are so timed that the agitators 66 are raised and lowered once for each rotation of the shaft 24 so that the nuts in the channel forming member 60 are thus agitated and caused to be fed properly to the feed roll 4|.

The ends of the channel forming members 60 are provided with a closure which is preferably made of metal and which includes forwardly bent portions 86 and rearwardly bent portions 81. This closure member 85 is mounted on the levers 15 by means of strips 8| so that each time the levers 15 are lowered by the cam 80 the closLue moves away from the ends of the channels formed by the member 60 and then quickly moves back to position thus allowing one nut to be advanced to the feed roll 4|.

In order to advance nuts properly to the channel forming chute member 60 I provide a second feed roll 90 which is mounted on a shaft 9i arranged on the frame. The feed roll 90 is provided with grooves 92 and spaced disk 92a similar to the grooves 42 and disk 42c previously described. This feed roll 90 is advanced by a member 93 which is mounted on a bar 94 which in turn is pivotally mounted as at 95 on a lever 96 pivotally mounted on a shaft 91 on the frame. A spring 98 normally urges the bar 93 against the feed roll 90 while a spring 96 urges the lever 96 downwardly. In order to shift the lever 96 I arrange the free end thereof remote from the pivot 95 so that it engages the cam 21 previously mentioned and is shifted by this cam when the shaft 24 rotates.

Mounted on the arm 96 I show another bar I00 which includes an offset upper portion l0! which is mounted on the lower portion of an agitator member H12 which is similar to the agitator 60 previously mentioned. The agitator I02 is provided with raised portions or distributors I03 mounted at the upper ends thereof. This agitator member I02 includes blades I04 which pass through slots I05 in a bin I06, which is provided with partition members I07 and which is disposed in inclined relation so that it feeds to the feed roll 90. The bottom of the bin IE6 is provided with guide slats H88 and between certain of the slats I may provide a pair of trap doors I69 (Fig. 4) which are pivotally mounted on a shaft I It on the bin I96 and the construction is such that should by chance or otherwise the operator place too many nuts in the bin I66 these trap doors will tilt to the dotted line position shown'in Fig. 4: thus discharging a portion of the nuts from the bin I08.

'If desired I may employ a sifter member I! I which is mounted on the frame as shown in Fig. 2 beneath the jaws 2| and I5 so that it may receive the cracked shells and nut meats and discharge the products of the cracking operation into a receptacle II2 while allowing the smaller pieces to pass to a receptacle I I3.

In Fig. 22 I show a plurality of nut cracking machines II) as mounted side by side for operation by a single motor II5 which through a belt H5 drives a shaft 24a on the first machine III. This shaft 24a is connected by a shaft coupling I I! with the shaft 24a on the second machine and the second shaft is connected by a coupling H8 with a third shaft 24a and the number of machines may be arranged as desired.

In operation with the installation shown comprising three machines and allowing a speed of the motor so that it will drive the shaft 24a at the rate of forty revolutions per minute this will cause the shaft 24a to rotate once each second and a half. This time,'it will be understood, may be altered. The timing of the three nut cracking machines Ill shown is such that they are out of phase to the extent of one-half second each so that during the first half second one of the machines will perform the cracking operation, the next half the second machine will operate and during the next half second the third machine will operate, the cams being so adjusted as to pro- .duce this result. With this arrangement there is no undue strain thrown on the drive shaft such as would be present if all of the nuts were cracked in all machines at one time. With the strain distributed and equalized a minimum of power is required and further the construction enables the use of lighter material with maximum wear secured.

In operating my apparatus the nuts are dropped into the bin I06 whence they find their way to the feed roll 95, thence to the primary feed roll 4I being agitated by the agitators and the passage to the feed roll 4! being controlled by the closure 85. The nuts are then advanced to a position between the movable jaw and the fixed jaw so that the movable jaw moves to cracking operation at the correct instant.

As previously described the various parts operate in timed relation tothe movement of the shaft 24 so that a uniform proper feed and cracking operation is secured.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that I have invented a novel nut cracking machine which can be economically manufactured and which is highly efficient for the intended purpose.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a nut cracking machine, a frame, a fixed cracking jaw on said frame, a movab1e cracking jaw pivotally mounted on said frame, the cracking face of each of said jaws having grooves and said grooves having intersecting rows of protuberances on their opposed faces, means to urge said movable jaw towards the fixed jaw, said means including a cam member, said cam member including one portion to move the movable jaw to a cracking position, said cam member including another portion to shift the movable jaw slightly away from said fixed jaw, said cam member including another portion to move the movable jaw to cracking position and the cam member including another portion to finally cause said movable jaw to move to nut discharging position.

2. In a nut cracking apparatus, a frame, a pair of cracking jaws on said frame, means to move said jaws relative to each other, a feed roll having longitudinal grooves, means whereby said feed roll moves in timed relation with the movable jaw to feed nuts between the jaws, a chute, said chute having grooves in the bottom thereof, a shiftable agitator member extending through each of said grooves and disposed in the path of nuts therein and means to shift said agitator member,

3.. Inn-a .nut cracking. apparatus, a frame, a fixed cracking jaw on said frame, a movable cracking jaw on said frame, means to move said movable jaw towards and from the fixed jaw, said jaws having opposed grooves therein, a feed roll having longitudinal grooves, means to move said feed roll in timed relation with the movable jaw to feed nuts between the jaws, a chute having grooves therein to advance nuts to said feed roll, a closure member interposed between said chute and said feed roll, means to shift said closure member in timed relation with the movement of said movable jaw, said chute having slots in the bottom thereof, an agitator member disposed in each of said slots, means to shift said agitator member in timed relation to the movement of said cracking jaws.

4. In a nut cracking apparatus, a frame, a fixed cracking jaw on said frame, a movable cracking jaw on said frame, means to move said movable jaw towards and from the fixed jaw, said jaws having opposed grooves therein, a feed roll having longitudinal grooves, means to move said feed roll, a chute having grooves therein to hold nuts and adapted to advance nuts to said feed roll, a closure member interposed between said chute and said feed roll, means to shift said closure member, said chute having slots in the bottom thereof, an agitator member disposed in each of said slots, means to shift said agitator member, a second feed roll spaced from said first feed roll and adapted to discharge nuts to the chute, means to rotate said second feed roll, a feed bin including a second chute member disposed to discharge nuts to the second feed roll, said bin having slats leading to said second chute, said second chute having slots therein, agitator members in said second slots, and means to move said second slot agitator members.

5. In a nut cracking apparatus, a frame, a fixed cracking jaw on said frame, a movable cracking jaw on saidframe,means to move said movablejaw towards and from the fixed jaw, said jaws having opposed grooves therein, a feed roll having longitudinal grooves, means whereby said feed roll moves in timed relation with the movable jaw to feed nuts between the jaws, a chute having grooves therein to hold nuts and adapted to advance nuts to said feed roll, a closure member interposed between said chute and said feed roll, means to shift said closure member in timed relation with the movement of said movable jaw, said chute having slots in the bottom thereof, an agitator member disposed in each of said slots, means to shift said agitator member in timed relation to the movement of said cracking jaws, a second feed roll spaced from said first feed roll and adapted to discharge nuts to the chute, means to rotate said second feed roll in timed relation to the movement of said movable jaw, a feed bin including a second chute member disposed to discharge nuts to the second feed roll, said bin having slats leading to said second chute, said second chute having slots therein, agitator members in said second slots, means to move said second slot agitator members in timed relation to the movement of the moving jaw.

6. In a nut cracking apparatus, a frame, a fixed cracking jaw on said frame, a movable cracking jaw on said frame, means to move said movable jaw towards and from the fixed jaw, said jaws having opposed grooves therein, a feed roll having longitudinal grooves, means whereby said feed roll moves in timed relation with the movable jaw to feed nuts between the jaws a chute having grooves therein to hold nuts and adapted to advance nuts to said feed roll, a

closure member interposed between said chute and said feed roll, means to shift said closure member in timed relation with the movement of said movable jaw, said chute having grooves in the bottom thereof, an agitator member disposed in each of said grooves, means to shift said agitator member in timed relation to the movement of said cracking jaws, a second feed roll spaced from said first feed roll and adapted to discharge nuts to the chute, means to rotate said second feed roll in timed relation to the movement of said movable jaw, a feed bin including a second chute member disposed to discharge nuts to the second feed roll, said bin having slats leading to said second chute, a trap door disposed adjacent said second chute, said trap door being pivotally mounted whereby an over supply of nuts will cause discharge thereof, said second chute having bottom slots therein, agitators in said second slots, means to move said second slot agitators in timed relation to the movement of the moving jaw and distributors on said last mentioned agitators and disposed in said second chute.

JOHN G. BERNEIKE. 

